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Road safety is important to both bikers and car drivers.
This man was cycling responsibly in the respective bike lane in Montreal.
A careless delivery driver suddenly made an illegal turn towards the bike lane, so he crashed into his car head-on.
Now, he is being blamed for the damage to the car door, and the driver is threatening to take legal action.
Do you think this is fair? Read the full story below and share your thoughts.
I live in Montreal, which has been transformed in the past few years to have a lot of cycling infrastructure.
I was cycling in a bike lane.
The lane was upgraded to have some small concrete barriers between it and the car lane.
But unfortunately, this barrier isn’t continuous and only appears near each intersection.
This man was biking on his lane when a car suddenly turned 90 degrees on his lane to do a U-turn.
Sadly, cars still park in the unprotected areas, especially delivery drivers like DoorDash.
A DoorDash driver parked in the opposite side bike lane suddenly drove into my lane at 90 degrees.
He tried to do an illegal U-turn.
There is a solid line, so you cannot even pass in the oncoming lane.
He crashed into the car head-on, and the driver started yelling at him.
I did not have time to completely stop and hit the door of the car head-on.
I was fine and so was the bike, but my helmet got a dent from hitting the car window.
He got out and started shouting at me.
He was telling me that I am a jerk and should have just stopped and waited for him to turn.
He said I did it on purpose and that he saw me.
The driver demanded that he pay for a new door.
The car door had a massive dent from the impact.
He then said this is going to cost a lot of money and told me I would have to pay for a new door.
He was still blocking the road, and some other drivers started honking.
So he moved the car to park in the bike lane.
He told the driver that he was the one who owed him a new helmet.
I asked for his insurance and said he is the one who owes me a helmet.
He declined to give me anything.
I started to just cut my losses and cycle away, but he got in his car and followed me.
We stopped elsewhere, and I gave him my phone number and took his.
The driver continues to harass him over calls and texts.
Now, he is calling me non-stop.
And sending me threatening texts about suing me if I do not pay him for a new door.
AITA for refusing this?
Let’s see how others react to this story.
This user makes a suggestion.
Here’s a valid point from this person.
This one shares their personal thoughts.
Don’t pay that man a penny, says this one.
Finally, this person shows care.
The motorist violating the traffic rules is almost always the one at fault.
If you liked that post, check out this post about a woman who tracked down a contractor who tried to vanish without a trace.